Tuesday, August 10, 2010

NEOUCOM to NEOMU: The Response

The post is in follow-up of the initial post called "NEOUCOM to NEOMU: Why It Matters." Less than 24 hours after the initial post went up, I was contacted by someone who works at the medical school to discuss the points that were brought up there. And, this conversation was helpful.

To clarify my point of view, I understand the rationale behind the name change. My problem was with the lack of transparency during the process. In the press release from July 30, 2010, only the new president gave quotes to be used. If there was support from the Board and the Alumni (and I don't doubt that there was), why not get a quote from the board chair and from an alumni who took part in the process.

In the rest of this video, I share some suggestions of how to try to move forward from this situation:
1) Some kind of acknowledgement that the communication with the alumni during this process could have been done better

2) Alumni are asking the question: "Do I get a new diploma with the new name of the university?" Just to let people know, verification of your educational history - like where you went to medical school - this is very important when you apply for hospital privileges and try to get onto insurance plans. If you have a diploma with the name of a school that no longer exists, this can cause unnecessary delays in the processing of your application - and ultimately push back, or prevent you working at a hospital or at an office.

3) Since the some alumni feel like they were not heard, what is administration and the school going to do to try to reach out and start a healing process with the alumni. Alumni should be the schools most valued asset. They contribute a lot of themselves - whether it be through teaching, or volunteering, or donations to the school. If alumni don't feel they were heard now, they will certainly make themselves feel heard by decreasing their donations to the school - which I know ultimately hurt current students. But, some alumni don't feel they will be heard any other way.

4) Finally, ever since the announcement of the new president, questions have been swirling - especially among alumni - about whether a dental school is on the road map for the university. And, since the question has not been answered or inadequately answered, the question remains. In my opinion, the new president would go a long way in mending fences if he took on this question straight on and answered it.

Finally, in an effort to help those frustrated alumni be heard, I will be using my internet radio show as a platform to help them express their opinion. On Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 8pm Eastern Time, I will interview an alumni who will express his point of view on this subject. Hopefully, other alumni and other people who are interested in this story will tune into the show to hear their point of view.

3 comments:

I can address your point #2, about new diplomas. The answer is no, the old one is still good.

It turns out that med schools are constantly in flux: closures, mergers, name changes. Computer databases handle this with ease: it's very simple to cross-reference your graduation date with which schools were in existence (and what they were called) at the time. There is no need to worry about credentialing delays or other issues.

I know this as the graduate of a school that merged, closed, and was taken over by another university. Never had any credentialing problems.

Thanks for the feedback. It's helpful. However, as stated in the post, the school still hasn't given any official guidance to questions like this one. And, this is part of the frustration that is out there among alumni.

I'm not sure about the diploma question. I have heard that new ones would be issued to ALL alumni and I've also heard (from a NEOUCOM administrative official) that alumni would have a CHOICE to keep the old diploma or get one with the new name on it.